Funder Tuesdays, in partnership with Stronger Kent Communities, is your opportunity to hear from a fantastic line up of local and national funders followed by the chance to ask your questions. 

If you missed our sessions, do not worry! Our guest speakers have kindly allowed their presentations and top tips to be shared with you…

The Tudor Trust

On Tuesday 18 May 2021, we were joined by The Tudor Trust’s Head of Research and Information, Nicky Lappin and Grants Support Officer, Ihsaan Budaly. Not only did Nicky and Ihsaan share some great top tips on applying to The Tudor Trust, but they also shared some useful links which you can find below:

• The Tudor Trust Overview handout
• Funding Guidelines for 2021/2022
• The Tudor Trust’s Principles
• What are we looking for? Overview of what the Trust are looking for when they consider an application
• Recent Grants List April 2020 – March 2021
• Grants Review 2019 – 2020
• The Tudor Trust’s Principles
• Sample Online Application Form
• How to Access and Complete the Online Application Form
• Grant conditions Information & Responsibilities sheet –
  • Capital Grants
  • Revenue Grants
  • Salaries Grants
• End of grant reporting requirements

Things to remember when applying to The Tudor Trust:

• Read the Funding Guidelines – they have recently been updated (link above)
• The Trust are focussed on helping smaller, community-led groups. Guidelines state they only support organisations with an annual income under £1 million however in 2020 41% of grants were made to groups with an income under £100,000 and the rest were to groups with an annual income under £500,000.
• In 2020, approximately 2,600 applications were received. One in eight were successful to the second stage.
• Average grant size in 2020 was £74,000 over one to three years. See Recent Grant List April 2020 – March 2021 link above for more information. Grant data also published on 360Giving website.
• The Trust’s giving is roughly split as one third new applicants, one third continuation funding and one third previously funded at some point.
• The Trust is focussing more on core funding rather than project costs. In 2020, 92% of their giving was for core funding.
• If applying for capital funding state what your shortfall for the project is and ask for a contribution rather than an exact figure. Currently the average grant is between £40,000 to £60,000. Detail the total project cost, what you have and what you need to raise. A more detail figure will be explored in the second stage of application, if successful.
• If an applicant is unsuccessful progressing to the next stage they can reapply after 12 months. If an applicant is unsuccessful after stage two feedback will be given and you may be able to reapply however you normally must wait 12 months before reapplying.
• If an applicant makes in through to the second stage, the current wait time for a decision is approximately three months.
• The guidelines state ‘We fund a wide range of organisations working to support positive change in people’s lives and in their communities around the UK.’ The term ‘communities’ does not necessarily refer to a local area or ‘residents’. Communities can be a group of people spread across a county or even the country that share a common interest, disadvantage or problem.
• The Trust wishes to support organisations that ‘help people at the margins of society’. They feel applicants are best placed to identify a community that is marginalised or not experiencing life to the full. Examples could be groups supporting in areas of health and wellbeing, economic, domestic abuse, older people, sexual violence or refugees and asylum seekers.
• The Trust is keen to support long term work with a holistic approach that is sustainable for both the organisation applying and the community they help.
• Ensure the application is written by someone at the heart of the organisation that truly understands what they do and what they are trying to achieve. Use a personal voice and back up statements with your own data rather than national statistics which the Trust already knows. Talk about direct experiences of working with the community supported and the struggles they encountered.
• Get someone external to your organisation to review your application – ideally someone unfamiliar with the work you do. Do they understand from your application who you are, your mission, who you support, what your requesting, do they understand any terminology/jargon you’ve used etc.
• Often applicants state all the negatives and weaknesses within a community they are trying to improve, but the Trust are also keen to hear about the positives and strengths. What positive work have you/other local organisations already done within the community? How do you wish to grow this?
• Advice for specific organisations:
  • Community centres – welcome to apply as long as they are providing or hosting services that support marginalised communities e.g. community cohesion, support groups
  • Faith-based organisations – welcome to apply as long as the project is open to all and does not for the promotion of religion
  • Food banks – must offer wraparound holistic support to their beneficiaries rather than only food parcels or meals

If you’d like to discuss your Kent or Medway project in more detail before applying, you can contact The Tudor Trust by calling 020 7727 8522. Further contact details here.

See Nicky and Ihsaan’s presentation here.